Saturday - after a number of delays due to
various final cleanup and yard work chores I
got on the road at about two. Somewhere between fifty and sixty hours of hard work this trip.
I had hoped to stop by and see my sister
down in Niles, but called and let her know that it was just too late.
As it was, traveling the I-5 at 55mph, I didn't get home until 9:30pm.
A long day.
And of course the neighbor's were having a party. A huge party, not a
parking spot left for a block in any direction. I had to put on my
emergency flashers, disconnect the trailer in the street, and hand roll
it up into my driveway, then park the Explorer in the driveway as well.
Then I slept on the family room couch, because there was too much noise
to sleep in the master bedroom.
Friday 3 September
2010
Friday
- while it was still reasonably cool in the morning put the landscape
blocks into place. This was just a temporary set-up, to see how they'd
look. They look OK, and are in fact rather hard to see from the street,
but they allow leveling of the top tier of earth. For the final
go-around I'll need to probably go down one tier, and possibly up
another, for a total of five levels, dwindling to perhaps two or three
at the uphill end. Then perhaps bricks or pavers, something low
maintenance.
Afterwards
I painted the walls in the master bedroom. Even with the window open
wide this was kind of a smelly job, but it went reasonably fast. The
paint is almost the viscosity of water - not like latex - and tends to
spatter everywhere. Particularly upon the painter. I didn't do the
ceiling - there were one or two cracks big enough to require caulking,
and I hadn't gotten to that
yet. And, in fact, I had just enough paint to finish the walls -
emptying two partial cans and two full cans of paint between the den
and the master. in the two days.
Thursday 2 September 2010
Thursday
- I cleaned up a bit in the master bedroom, after removing the ceiling
coating, vacuuming and tossing the tarps with the old plaster on them.
Then I pre-primed the corners with the Bin Zinsser paint.
While I was
at it I also painted the closet in the den.
This
was a dark and rather gross alcove, still mostly painted in
the lime green (probably lead based) paint applied in 1923 - it
was flaking off and there didn't seem to be anything more than plaster
under it. Even with the a/c running and a fan blowing the experience of
applying oil based paint in a small room is pretty horrible - it's a
matter of holding one's breath, putting on about a rollers worth of
paint, then running into the next room to get a lung full of fresh air.
And since it was old, dry, porous and dark paint it took nearly 3/4's
of a gallon of paint to cover reasonably!
My brother had a real estate
agent come by and look at the place. After looking at it she said, due
to the various issues, that it would be impossible for a buyer to get a
FHA or VA loan on the place, and probably impossible to get a
conventional loan. This corresponds to my own recent experiences in the
home buying area - the lenders and mortgage companies are running
scared and have really really tightened up the process. My brother's
won't like it, but it's the way it is.
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Wednesday
- We tarred the joints where the new and old shingles butt
up against each other. Again, just a temporary fix, until we
put the new roof and flashing on.
I brought up the bricks from the trailer. For some reason no-one wanted
to help. Thirty landscaping blocks at 16 pounds each - 480 pounds,
about a quarter ton of masonry. Fortunately it was a cool morning, and
I was just carrying them up to the front yard, not the back.
My brother left for Palmdale at noon - he has a dentist appointment on
Thursday.
Just carrying on, cleaning and painting. The big task was to get the old
acoustic ceiling off in the master bedroom, a dirty and tiring job I've
been avoiding. This took until midnight.
The ceiling, 1/3rd removed
Tuesday 31
August
2010
Tuesday
- working away at things. My brother and I got the shingles on over the
repaired sections of roof. To the extent possible we slipped the new
felt under the old, but this is only a temporary fix until we put an
entirely new roof over the old. The new shingles, in fact, are just a
shim, to make the roof level for the next (complete) layer of shingles.
Monday 30
August
2010
Monday
- working on the roof still.
Sunday 29
August_2010
Sunday
- working on the roof with my brothers. There is a patch with a lot of
damage where an acacia tree overhung - and branches struck - the roof.
Water got in, and there is considerable dry rot. Also the north facing
eaves in back were in pretty bad shape - they had no flashing so we had
to cut off the fascia and a few inches of the eave boards to get to
good wood. And replace an entire piece of rotted plywood.
It's warm, up on the roof, but not horrific. We timed it just right it
seems.
Picture of
the Week
Photo
Notes:
The AV Fair 2010, after sunset
but not fully dark.
